Sunday, June 13, 2021
Mehdi Hasan - The king of ghazal
Mehdi Hasan was trained by his father and uncle, but the most definitive influence was that of his elder brother, Pandit Ghulam Qadir.
Ghazal gaiki (singing) attained true musical credentials in Pakistan and the artiste who best represented that was Mehdi Hasan.
Though he became popular and was recognised by connoisseurs of music as the “sahib-i-tarz gawaiya”, the journey was very difficult for him. It is easier for a musician born in a family of musicians to be a gawaiya or a bajwayia because music is imbibed in the same manner as the mother tongue in the process of growing up. So, being aware of the sur is an inescapability, but in one sense it is more difficult because the evolution of an individual style then becomes the true test and benchmark for the artiste.
Like his elders, Mehdi Hasan, too, was meant to be a dhrupadia or a kheyalia. However, as he grew up, it became apparent that the melodious intent in the intonation and the range of his voice was more suited for, what was then called, the semi-classical forms. Thumri and dadra had gained acceptance in the late 19th Century in the avenues of music. Many were switching to these due to a greater patronage extended by the princely states.
The kheyal was considered to be the most prestigious form of music. It took other forms a long time to establish themselves among the connoisseurs of music. The ghazal, initially the vocal accompaniment of dancing women in the salons, rose gradually, gaining popularity during the course of the century and gained prominence and then some prestige among the musicians with a lineage with Akhtari Bai Faizabadi and Barkat Ali Khan. KL Saigal, who became famous and popular because of the film geets, was actually the first male super start of film vocalisation. He gave a shot in the arm to ghazal gaiki. Prestige followed popularity. This was not really the case in feudal patronage where prestige hinged upon the taste of the patron and not necessarily the larger populace.
Mehdi Hasan’s forefathers were well-known musicians and had been associated with numerous courts in what is now Rajasthan. His father, Azeem Khan, and uncle, Ismail Khan, too, were court singers. He was trained by his father and uncle, but the most definitive influence on him was that of his elder brother, Pandit Ghulam Qadir. Nevertheless, he had a tough beginning. He worked as a tyre fixer, then a motor mechanic and worked the land for a living.
In music forms where the lyrics play an important part, the greatest challenge for the vocalist is to break through the limitation of meaning that the grid of words impose. The significance of the sur has to dominate and take over. In the classical forms in the Indian sub-continent, the lyrics were kept to the minimum and totally subordinated to the tonal pattern of the melodic formations, usually expressed through the combinations and permutations of a particular raga or even a subtle mixing of two or more ragas in various tempos.
This has to be distinguished from recitation or cantillation, which in various cultures, including our own, have had an equally old and venerated tradition. The recitation, or cantillation or what is generally known as tarannum, is only a musical illustration of the lyrics. Its virtue, too, is supposed to rest there. The moment it liberates itself from the limitation of the word to assume a definitive tonal form, it is supposed to be assessed from a musical point of view rather than finding a relationship between the note and the word.
In the last seventy odd years, one has seen a steady decline of these forms that dwell on the purity of the note and move away from the meaning-driven comprehension of the word. Many vocalists have tried to reach some kind of a compromise and have taken bits from both to survive and create an expression that stays relevant to the changing environment of the times or era.
Many in this Land of the Pure are content with appreciating art as a handmaiden to either religion or some political ideology with the autonomy of the arts not given due consideration. This tepid understanding was further reinforced by the introduction of the film song which generally is understood as furthering the narrative or fulfilling the requirements of the scene. However, one has seen that with the passage of time, the song has had a longer shelf life than the film itself and it can be surmised that the song had the potential of outgrowing the immediate reason(s) for its coming into being.
The tacit promotion of the ghazal and subsequent gaiki were also the cultural imperative of the new state of Pakistan and the connections with a Persianate culture that ensured continuity with the older cultural expressions. They were being poached upon to establish a cultural identity for the new political identity. It may be interesting to note that the painters trying to establish themselves and find a place in the cultural matrix, too, were treading the same course by painting verses from famous poets. Abdur Rahman Chughtai is a good example; he switched from painting mythological figures to the imaginative representation of the verses of Ghalib and later of Iqbal. Sadeqain, too, tried to do that though not to the extent of Chughtai, who wanted to connect to the art of the book – a miniature was supposed to be an illustration on the margins of a book with the text or the story in the middle.
The greatness of Mehdi Hasan was that he did no let himself be buried under the huge veneration attached to poetry, but emerged as one using the lyrics or the poetry for greater musical relevance. This would have been difficult to achieve for a lesser vocalist as the words would have dominated to claim the credit. However, he was able to transcend the poetic content and is celebrated by the gawaiyas for this very reason. Mehdi Hasan’s barsi is on June 13.
https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/848096-the-king-of-ghazal
Pakistan student who survived 2014 army school attack elected Oxford Union treasurer
Nawaz is studying Philosophy and Theology at Lady Margaret Hall, alma mater of former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto and compatriot Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in 2012, when she was 15, for her advocacy in favour of girls’ education.
A survivor
Nawaz and his family shifted to the UK for the treatment of his bullet injury and to rebuild their lives.
In his Twitter bio, Nawaz describes himself as a “survivor” and human rights activist working for youth empowerment, sustainability and ensuring access to education for deprived children.
In 2020, he told Gulf News that he started working as a teen activist soon after his family came to the UK. He has participated in the World Leaders Conference in Portugal, the One Young World at the Nobel Peace Laureate Summit, and many other forums that advocate for the rights of young people.
The report also quoted him as saying that, as part of his campaign, he had provided scholarships to many young people in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa region of Pakistan, and built a school in Lebanon for refugee children.
https://theprint.in/world/pakistan-student-who-survived-2014-army-school-attack-elected-oxford-union-treasurer/676964/
Pakistan - Censorship in science raises many questions - Missing gender
RECENTLY, I came across some disturbing information regarding the self-censorship that is being applied to the biology curriculum in some parts of the country. I was told by reliable sources that in some provinces under the heading “the human reproductive system” only the male reproductive system is being taught, while the female reproductive system has been conveniently removed. This brings to the forefront several questions. For instance, are the informed bodies that determine curriculum content of the opinion that exposing students to the female anatomy will lead to immoral behaviour or are they of the opinion that understanding female physiology is of no consequence to the study of science and biology? This would imply that we will produce medical students who are permitted to study the male anatomy and therefore be able to treat male ailments, but will not be equipped to treat female patients. It would seem that as a society we have deliberately gouged out one of our eyes and like Amartya Sen said, we will continue to have “missing women” as the sex ratio in the country will decline further due to health, nutritional and economic constraints that women face. Apparently, in a country which suffers from a high maternal mortality rate, where anaemia amongst women is endemic, where the ratio of men to women in the population is regressive, where the fertility rate is growing at an untrammelled pace, we certainly don’t need to include the female reproductive system in the biology curriculum at the high school level. To add insult to injury, some members of the Muttahida Ulema Board have also directed textbook boards to omit diagrams of the human body “without clothes”. It is important to unravel this particular mindset, as it appears on initial assessment that the attitude of conservative Muslim ulema is not only hostile but schizophrenic towards science; they are happy to reap its benefits but not willing to subscribe to the worldview it generates. Censorship in science raises many questions. The end result of this thinking would be that medical education should be provided without practical training. In a country where the quality of healthcare and the incidence of quackery is high, we are setting ourselves up for another disaster. Not only that, there is a disconnect between the golden age of Islam where science and religion were compatible and the current reactionary attitude we see today amongst many religious groups towards all things scientific. In the past, the appeal of science was mystical and was seen as a way of experiencing the beauty and expanse of creation. As Ibn Rushd the famous 13th-century anatomist is believed to have said, “Anyone who studies anatomy will increase his faith in the omnipotence and oneness of God the Almighty”.’ Many scholars have wondered when this particular connection broke down between the religion and empirical science — was it the destruction of libraries in Baghdad by Hulagu Khan, or was it the subjective patronage of arts and sciences under the Ottomans which limited the domain of scientific inquiry, or was it the onslaught of colonialism and the resulting visceral reaction to all things Western and modern across the Muslim world? Undoubtedly, science is a way of pursuing truth in order to unmask and unravel the mysteries of nature and to address existential imperatives that confront the human civilisation. The basis of any scientific discovery is the conduct of experiments and the recording of observations. The determinant factor to prove any theory hinges on empirical evidence and hardcore facts. Marie Curie would have never discovered radium or its source, if she had not conducted painstaking laboratory work over a period of time to separate radium and polonium. The irony about Madame Curie is that she was not allowed to study science in her home country Poland since she was a woman. If by twist of fate, she had not ended up at the Sorbonne in Paris, perhaps the story of radium and the structure of the atom would have been written differently. Not only that, the harnessing of nuclear energy to treat cancer patients may have taken a different trajectory. There can be no confusion when it comes to teaching students about the human anatomy and using educational tools and content that will enable them to understand these basic concepts and prepare them for future learning. In fact, we need to be thinking of much bigger issues when it comes to determining the science curriculum in terms of aligning it with scientific and technological advances, such as the discovery of DNA and the development of biotechnology and the problems of climate change, overpopulation and habitat destruction. We need to balance the curriculum to be inclusive of both the science of life and the science of living, something that has become extremely important in the wake of Covid 19. In other words, it’s best if the determination of science curriculum is left to the subject experts. https://www.dawn.com/news/1628922/missing-gender
#Pakistan #PPP - Govt afraid of public's reaction to storm of heavy taxes, says Bilawal
Bilawal added that the PTI-led government's decision to impose taxes on phone calls and then immediately retracting the decision shows that it is in a state of confusion. He said that the decision to impose nearly Rs375 billion worth of taxes on the masses is an "injustice." "The government did not spare a single item of the common man's use from taxes," Bilawal said, adding that the government is "robbing people" in the name of the ‘PTIMF’ budget, implying a budget proposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "I reject the government's PTIMF budget," he said. Two days ago, Bilawal had condemned the budget proposed by the federal government, calling it an "economic attack on Pakistanis". The PPP chairman, in a statement issued from Media Cell Bilawal House, had said PTI would not be permitted to "play with the nation’s future", vowing his party would not allow Prime Minister Imran Khan "to conduct an economic massacre of the people."
https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/848988-imran-khans-govt-afraid-of-publics-reaction-to-storm-of-heavy-taxes-says-bilawal